Prince of the Wood
by Nefreia
Summary: Inuyasha, Prince of the Wood. You know, steals from the rich to give to the poor? Robin Inuyasha and Maid Kagome? Of course you know the story! Don't act that simple! :Inuyasha, Robin Hood style:
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : Howdy! Umm... About my other stories that are in a rut... Please don't hurt meh! I'm just a crazed upstart writer, not to mention still a kid! And I lose interest a bit too easily. I got the idea after watching the cartoon version of Robin Hood. Anyways! Oh! The only thing is that I'm balancing on a ledge: Will I use their accent or semi-modern or both whilst talking? M'kay I suppose you can vote for yourselves in reviews? Maybe?**

**:.Beginning of Disclaimer.: _I am not Rumiko Takahashi, so do not think I am_ :.End of Disclaimer.:**

**Description: Inuyasha is the Prince of the Wood; you know, steals from the rich to give to the needy? Robin Inuyasha and Maide Kagome? Of course you know the story! Don't act that simple. Inuyasha: Robin Hood-style:**

**Five Sided Dice**

**Prince of the Wood**

**'Prologue'**

**oO0oO0oo0Oo0Oo**

The sun was setting in the west, leaving pastel clouds in its wake. The forest below held a sort of ominous silence that could only herald misgiving. Then, as if on cue, the blow of a hunter's horn pierced thru the silence. The baying of hounds followed soon after, giving chase to some unfortunate creature or other.

Unless, perhaps, the creature were more than hounds and a single unskilled bowman could handle.

As it were in this case.

Yet another unsuccessful chase after the Prince of the Wood was taking place.

Unluckily for the small band, a red- and green-clad warrior was making his silent descent upon his misdirected pursuers from behind. The sun at their head and the wind blowing east, the Prince had tricked them onto a 'fresh' trail of his--and being that the hounds couldn't catch his scent on the wind, had only to follow the faux trail.

_Thar he blows, Cap'n! From tha' starboard side comes a red n' green missile,_ or more commonly phrazed: from out of nowhere leapt the red- and green-hooded outlaw.And so the Prince hauled off out of the woods and kindly 'helped' the bowman off his horse. Not even giving the poor soul a chance to knock an arrow, much less exhale the breath he had gasped a half-second beforehand when he heard branches snapping to his right. A clawed fist had jammed into his shoulder securely prying him from his beloved steed and roughly throwing his back into a tree.

When the man opened his eyes again and blinked back the black darkness of unconsciousness he realized he couldn't move. His life flashed before his eyes. The image of his mangled body and vivid red blood filled his vision

But, then it was gone, a different kind of red took it's place. The red of a hood and cape as it covered a green tunic, and trousers and shoe-less clawed feet.

Glistening gold eyes stared at the man out from the darkness of his hood, and shiny white fangs grinned at him from the same shadows.

The man went speechless.

The hunter looked up at his captor, the golden eyes flickered back to him holding something not unlike amusement. And the Prince of the Wood remained silent.

"Erm... Prince?" said the man, feeling the need to fill the void of silence and in the meanwhile using the honorific to hopefully spare his life. He thought he heard the young adult sigh, but then again he could have imagined it. Hah! Maybe this whole thing was just a dream. In all possiblity, he supposed, he could have fallen asleep on watch duty and could still be in the silly charade of his head. The man started laughing hysterically at his position, in hopes of proving his insane thoughts true? Or more likely proving the prince's thoughts, for he had by now deemed the man to not be in his right mind. Although, his vault into the tree surely would have caused it.

"Ahahaha! I see, I see, Bastard Prince of Half-breeds. Well, then, I suppose it would matter not if thou decidest to be me own personal guillotine." _In dreams, the dreamer can not truly get hurt_, the man thought.

Or perhaps the man was wrong, as well as insane.

The Prince of the Wood smirked at this, though it held no merriment, only mallice toward the title men like this had harbored for the hanyou prince.

He was in reality no bastard son. His father was the Lord of the West and his elder half-brother was the new rightful lord. This prince, the Prince of the Wood held no certain house of his own. Thus granting the surrounding woods to be his, in theory. He was still quite royal and he was still quite highborn and pure of rank, though some overlooked this by his slight by bloodline. _Hanyou._ All he had known since being a pup was the disgust he had gathered by numerous foes. Few, though, had actually taken the time to interact with him enough to learn his real personality and his good side. And that he was; good. But, hate could freeze a heart as fast as any ice. And he was slowly chilling over. Only the ties he held with his few friends secured him to the ground with his level-headedness. Though few friends they were.

The Prince of the Wood, Prince Inuyasha of the Western Kingdom, younger half-brother to the true Lord of the West, and son to the late Lord of the Western Provinces flexed his claws. He reached down and picked the limp man up by the front of his tunic, the smirk transforming into an all-out feral grin.

A rough wind suddenly overtook the pathway, it stirred the hood from his head as it fell back. Silver hair flashed in the wind adorned with a pair of white dog ears. His eyes carried an iciness that few survived long enough to glimpse. His fangs gleamed a clean white as his tongue ran over them once.

"Keh, f'that's what you want, peasant."

**oO0oO0oo0Oo0Oo**

_Five: Erm. Quite short, I know, but I suppose I just wanted to get the point across that... well? What is my point?_

_Inuyasha: That I am the fearless Hanyou Prince of the Wood, and all shall bow down to my awesome prowess._

_Five: Umm... Inuyasha? Since when have you started talking like a total loon?_

_Inuyasha: Since you put me in the position of the Prince of the Wood. Dur._

_Five: But this is not some kid's story! You are supposed to be serious, baka._

_Inuyasha: Oh yeah? Really? And was all that shit about the 'starboard and the cap'n and the red n' green missile' serious? Yup. I knew it. No wonder you're named Five Sided Dice._

_Five: What!? What's that supposed to mean, dog boy?_

_Inuyasha: That you are weird and bi-polar! Hah!_

_Five: Am not! At least I don't have fuzzy, silvery, adorably cute dog ears growing out of the top of my head..._

_Inuyasha: That's a threat?_

_Five: ... Osuwari! -silence- What? I can't do it? How biased..._

**oO0oO0oo0Oo0Oo**

_A/N : Yeah... I've always wanted to have an A/N sub-story. Heh heh... I try to be funny! 'S not like my goal in life is to do stand-up. Gawd...tough crowd. -pushes 'comical laughter' button- _

_And double-yeah, the chapter is short because it is not technically a chapter--it's a prologue! One last thing before I type your dern eyes off!: Inuyasha did not eat him. I just thought that last bit would be a nice finishing. If you know Inuyasha like I'm sure you do, I have not ever seen him like this(unless you count his full-demon form, or the beginning of the series when he ... oh, wait, that was Naraku anyway... nevermind.), so it's not as if it's an everyday thing for him in the anime. I just wanted to start this here story off with a bit of... Bite? No pun intended._

_Five Sided Dice_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Chapter two of Prince of the Wood. Sorry it took so long and it is rather short. But at least it's finally up.

**Five Sided Dice**

**Prince of the Wood**

**'Story of a Coup'**

**oO0oO0oo0Oo0Oo**

After dealing with the hunter, InuYasha made his way through the forest. It was getting darker and every step he took neared him to his destination. At the other side of the forest nestled in a gently sloping valley was a village he had come to know through the years. Not far from there, yet still hidden in the depths of the forest lie his encampment where he and his merry band took refuge.

He was closing in on the site of where his friends were stayed, so he picked up the speed. It had been over a fortnight since he had last rested in peace and he was fatigued by mostly sleepless nights as he was out patrolling his woods.

And then, he was there and he landed in the clearing - not to mention scaring the daylights out of his friend the monk.

"Whoa, InuYasha, what pub did you drag yourself out of? You look terrible."

"Glad to be back, Miroku," his ragged voice replied in sarcasm.

"Ahha, sorry about that, I uh... just meant... Welcome back!!" An innocent smile graced his features as he gently pulled at the neckline of his robes.

"Why don't you just go back to your cloister."  
"Oh, Inu, don't be so cold. You shun me, you know?"

"And you deserve it, I'm sure. Where are the others?" InuYasha dipped his hands into a bucket of water and splashed the cold fluid over his face, then grabbed a nearby cloth to dry off.

"Hey! That was going to be used for my brushes!"

"Your what?" InuYasha raised an eyebrow at his friend - forgetting for the moment about his earlier question.

"Oh, that's right you don't know about my newly found talent!" Miroku radiated with glee as he practically danced over to a table covered in canvases and leather-tubed satchels.

"What the f..."

"Look, look! _This_ is my talent!" And the monk held up a canvas covered in a detailed landscape. It was quite good, something that surprised InuYasha noticeably. He was mentally proud of his friend for finally finding a talent that he was actually _good_ at.

"Nice, what did Jinenji say?"

Then Miroku gave another joyful smile,"He's the one who gave me the idea. I think that after creating so many... not-quite-healing... healing potions with his herbs he decided that he should give me a different talent to try out!"

"Not-quite-healing?" InuYasha questioned, not quite sure to grimace at or make fun of his friend.

"Well, let's just say that whenever I gave them to my test subje--I mean patients, the next day they looked more monk-ish than me." He gave another one of his innocent smiles as he fumbled to put away the canvas.

"I'm not even gonna ask." And thankfully the monk was off the hook, for now. "So, where is everyone?"  
But the monk didn't get to pass go or collect two hundred dollars quite yet, so he busied himself with straightening up his artwork.

"Monk."  
He continued to shuffle around and accidentally dropped a leather tube in the process. He bent to pick it up just as a clawed foot was placed threateningly on top of the satchel.

"Umm..." Then he sighed and straightened himself to look the half-demon in the eye.

"Your brother had to leave the kingdom due to some sort of business and left his subordinate in charge. It is rumored that said subordinate sent an assassin after Sesshoumaru-sama. And so now he thinks that Sesshoumaru is dead and that he is the ruler. He has called upon all of 'his' subjects to 'his' castle to a banquet that 'he' is having. The others went to scout out the place to see if the rumors are right, or at least that's what their excuse was. I decided to stay back, of course."  
"At least _you_ are loyal, though that may not mean much. So... my bastard of a brother was idiot enough to leave Naraku in charge? Unless... Unless of course it is a trap to see if Naraku had planned to pull a coup d'etat. That would be more like him..." InuYasha trailed off in thought until Miroku burst his thought bubble with faux outrage.

"InuYasha! _Again_ you harm my honor! Of course I am loyal to you! I am a highly regarded monk of great spiritual power, how could I not mean much?"

But InuYasha had turned away and began walking to one of the many tents in the encampment,"Tomorrow we're leaving to check out the banquet. Something's up with this and I don't like it." In his mind he continued, _And I'm worried about where my Kagome stands in all of this._

"Ahh, you worry about your priestess?" The monk smiled deviously.

InuYasha threw a glare over his shoulder before entering his tent and pulling the flap over the entrance-way.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Kagooomeeee!" A high-pitched voice chirped. The owner of the voice being none other than a small girl as she ran through the castle gardens searching for her friend. Bare-foot, dirty, and clothing askew from planting flowers, the adopted princess was now tired of it and wanted a story.

"Kagooo--umph"

"Oh! Are you okay?" A woman dressed in the tell-tale red and white garb of a priestess turned around to pick the little girl off the ground. "My are you dirty, Rin! Planting flowers again?"

"I'm fine and yes I was, but now I want a story," the girl -- Rin -- smiled brightly and continued to ramble as her priestess-friend carried her back into the castle. She continued on talking about random events of her gardening until she found herself in the wash-room and stripped of her clothes.

"Ahh! Kagome, I don't want a bath! I'm not _dirty_, I'm clean! Clean!"

"You're _about_ to be clean, and if you want that story you'll have to bear with a little bath," Kagome laughed as she picked up Rin's clothing and put it in a woven basket, then walked over to a wooden chest that she shuffled around in until she found a bar of soap and herbs that had fragrances that Rin was agreeable with.

"Okay, Kagome-chan. But! After the bath you have to tell me the story of the girl and the magical well."

"Again?"

"Mhm! You promised!"

"Kagome gave her a wry grin,"And when did I promise something like that?"  
"When you were asleep. Yep. I asked you yesterday and you said something that kinda' sounded like 'Okay, Rin-chan, I promise to read you the story of the girl and the magical well'."

Nonplussed, Kagome sighed and gave Rin the bar of soap,"Some reason I just don't think I would be able to say all of that so clearly. In. My. Sleep."

"Oh, but you did, Kagome-chan. Trust me, you did."

"Alright, alright! I'll read it, but first -- a bath!"

"Mhm! That's what I said." Rin smiled triumphantly before her head was dunked unceremoniously under the luke-warm water to pop back up again with dripping jet black hair hiding her scowling face.


End file.
